Allport’s internally contradictory views on prejudice powered his generative influence

Evidence

Allport is the founder of the cognitive approach to prejudice, which views stereotyping and categorization as normal and inevitable byproducts of how people think. Yet he also viewed prejudice as a fundamentally irrational hatred, born of ignorance and the ego-defensive maneuvers of people with weak personality structures. Thus, from the standpoint of logical consistency, Allport often left much to be desired, but from the standpoint of generating ideas, he could hardly have been more successful; his book has been, and will likely continue to be, mined productively by generations of theorists and researchers. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 99

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the vault’s Allport reassessment thread — the tension between cognitive-normal and irrational-hatred views of prejudice is exactly the axis modern contact-theory claims negotiate.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 99